For a fascinating look at how art inspires art, come hear artist Suzanne Benton describe her two-year odyssey studying the paintings that Marcel Proust referenced in his groundbreaking novel In Search of Lost Time and creating her own art in response to those paintings. As part of our Distinguished Speakers series, Benton will give her illustrated presentation at Founders Hall on Friday, April 17 at 1.
Benton’s odyssey began in 2013 when she joined Ridgefield’s Big Read of Proust’s novel, which references more than 200 artworks. As a guest artist at Eckerd College, she began exploring the referenced pieces and responding to them with her own artwork. The need to see the original artworks then sent her to Rome, Assisi, London, Prague, and Berlin, which inspired her to transpose a series of the referenced paintings into her celebrated monoprints and paintings. “To my knowledge, no one else has done an interpretation of works chosen by Proust,” Benton said. As part of the project, Benton worked with Founders Hall instructor Michael Lankester, who then illustrated his Music in Proust lectures with many of her artworks.
Benton has shared her art in 29 countries, straddling the art world, villages in Africa, India and Nepal, and philosophy and education portals from Kolkata to Cambridge. A Fulbright Scholar and recipient of grants and artist residencies, she’s exhibited in 150-plus solo shows with works in museums and worldwide collections. Author of the Art of Welded Sculpture and numerous articles, she is listed in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who of American Artists.
Poetry Tea, sponsored by Laurel Ridge Health Care Center, Friday, April 10, 2 p.m.